While nationwide students continue to struggle in school following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the situation in one of the nation’s largest cities is dire.
A new report from Wirepoints says that dozens of Chicago area schools are claiming no students are proficient in math or reading. The report examined 2022 data from the Illinois Department of Education, which showed that in 55 Chicago public schools, students could not do math or reading at their grade level.
Politicians and families alike are bewildered by the recent findings, as the state and federal government has funneled billions of dollars into the city’s education in an effort to help raise education levels.
In total, the report found that 22 Chicago schools had zero students who could read at grade level, while 33 reported the same for math. But the issue goes beyond Chicago, as 30 schools throughout the state reported zero students could read at grade level, and 53 had the same for math.
Illinois State Senator Willie Preston (D-16) spoke with Fox News’s “Fox & Friends First,” sharing that the issue can’t be fixed solely at the government level.
“Government isn’t the anthem for all things,” Preston said. “I think that we have to reengage parents, have parents actively take a role inside the schools when they can be, but in addition, we need to make certain that we … spend our money in the right way as it pertains to our children’s education.”
While Preston blamed COVID and policies enacted during the height of the pandemic for the current results, the report’s authors, Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner, argued that the regression in education levels began in 2019.
“Defenders of the current system are sure to invoke [COVID] as the big reason for the low scores, but a look at the 2019 numbers show that the reading and math numbers were only slightly better than they are now,” they wrote.
Preston acknowledged that the report also discussed the $11.2 billion in state and federal funding given to schools. However, he argued that teachers can’t be the only scapegoat when it comes to current achievement gaps in the classroom.
“I don’t know that it’s fair to lay this all at the feet of teachers. I think there are other factors,” Preston said. “There are a lot of children that are facing homelessness that are not attending classes regularly. There are a number of factors in addition to that … a lot of these children are coming from poverty-stricken communities.”
Instead, Preston says the working-class community needs to be rebuilt and restructured, with tax dollars being used “the right way.”
“I think there’s more that we can glean from this is what I’m getting at,” Preston said. “We have to figure out why. Is it just the teachers? I think if it’s just the teachers, then we have an issue, but I don’t think that’s the case here. This is stemming from a larger issue in Chicago overall.”
When it comes to where Chicago schools stack up nationally, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported in October that kids on the cusp of high school had math and reading scores heavily impacted, with data showing education levels at a 30-year low.
The report, known as the “Nation’s Report Card,” examines kids in the fourth and eighth grades to determine their readiness for advanced learning.
Math scores for eighth graders plummeted in 49 states, with Utah being the only one to hold steady, as four in 10 students in the grade perform below basic achievement levels, according to the report.
The report also showed that reading scores plummeted last year, sitting at levels last seen in 1992 as scores dropped by three points at both grade levels.
The Chicago Public School District shared a statement with Fox News, noting that it is not the only urban area to see students struggling.
“As 2022 academic scores were reported last fall, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) saw that, by and large, our scores were consistent with other large urban districts,” the statement said, adding that the district expects “a strong recovery this year and next and are hopeful these gains will be reflected in our internal assessments, grades, and classroom engagement, as well as State assessments.”
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